Alexander Block Memorial Museum

St.Petersburg
57 Dekabristov str., Saint Petersburg
Phones: +7 (812) 713-86-16

A literary display in the last flat of Alexander Blok, which he and his wife were compelled to move into owing to the Bolshvist policy of compression, was opened in 2005.

The exhibition explores the life and work of Alexander Blok in the broad context of artistic life in St. Petersburg – Petrograd of 1920s – 1930s. A collection of Blok’s authentic personal possessions and photographs is on display, as well as editions of his works published in his lifetime.

The exhibition explores the life and work of Alexander Blok in the broad context of artistic life in St. Petersburg – Petrograd of 1920s – 1930s. A collection of Blok’s authentic personal possessions and photographs is on display, as well as editions of his works published in his lifetime.

In 2008 State Museum of the History of St Petersburg launched a new display entitled “Alexander Blok and his Circle”, based on the museum collection and memorial items from the Institute of Russian Literature in St Petersburg. Items connected with the poet's family and literary circle, including numerous autographs, books, portraits, drawings and personal belongings, tell about personal life of the famous poet.

Memorial display is located on the third floor of the flat 21, which was occupied by Alexander Blok and his wife from 1912 to 1920. This flat is connected with the most fruitful period of his work. Here he wrote the cycles of poems «Of What the Wind Sings», «The Life of My Friend», «Black Blood», «Jambs», «Carmen», poems «Nightingale's Garden» и «The Twelve», the drama «The Rose and the Cross», and numerous articles; here he started his poem «Requital», cycles of poems «Italian Verses» and «In Twelve Years».

The interiors of the study, the dining room, the beedroom and the room of Alexander Blok's wife were recreated according to the memoirs of the poet's contemporaries. Personal belongings of Alexander Blok and his relatives on loan from the Museum of the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences are on display.

The Alexander Blok Flat-Museum, opened in 1980 to mark the 100th anniversary of the poet’s birth, is located in the house at 57 Dekabristov (formerly Ofitserskaya) Street, where the poet spent the last nine years of his life. It was the first museum dedicated to Silver Age poet. Since Alexander Blok perfectly represents his time, his name became symbolic for both his contemporaries and people of later generations. Blok's personal belongings, which were kept in the Institute of Russian Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences (the Pushkin House) after the death of his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok, are on display.

The house, designed by architect M.F. Peterson, was built in 1874–1876. All apartments in the building were intended for rent to middle class people. Among the first tenants was the family of the poet Innokentiy Annenskiy. Later wife and children of Nikolay Repin moved here. For a long period of time the house was accomodated by a sister of a famous Russian artist Alexander Somov A. Somova-Mikhailova, and by musicians and artists of Mikhailovsky theater.

Ofitserskaya Street was connected with some important moments in the life of Alexander Blok. In 1906 his play “The Little Show Booth” was staging at the Drama Theater on 39 Ofitserskaya Street. In 1911 Blok's mother, Alexandra Andreevna Kublitskaya-Piottukh, moved into the house 40 on this street. On 24th June 1912 Blok and is wife Lyubov Mendeleeva occupied the apartment 21 of the building 57, with its angle facing the river Pryazhka Embankment. They lived here until the February of 1920, when the Bolsheviks introduced the policy of compression of “manor apartments”. In order to avoid the life in the communal flat, Blok and his wife had to move into small apartment 23 on the second floor, which he had to share with his mother and his stepfather Frantz Felixovich Kublitskiy-Piottukh, and where he lived until his death.

For young visitors from 5 years and older, interactive classes are held to help them get in touch with the world of poetry and discover their own creative potential.

For those who are interested in the history of the city, the museum staff conducts thematic walking tours from the cycle "Walking in Kolomna", and for those who want to visit the main places in the city associated with the life and work of the poet, a bus tour "Petersburg of the Block"has been developed.